WOMAN'S SLAYING BRINGS '93 TOTAL TO 8 IN MIAMI BEACH

MIAMI BEACH -- In only four months, the eight homicides on Miami Beach already has equaled the number in all of 1991 and is getting closer to the resort city's 12 slayings last year.

The latest victim of the deadly trend was a woman discovered on Tuesday in the northern part of the city.

The unidentified woman was found at 5:45 a.m. in the baseball field at North Shore Park, at 73rd Street and Carlyle Avenue. Her face was bloodied, apparently from a bullet wound, Miami Beach Police said.

The Metro-Dade Medical Examiner's Office will determine the cause of death.

Police said the most recent killing may have resulted from a domestic dispute.

A witness, whose camper was parked nearby, told police he heard arguing coming from the field. It was followed by what sounded like a gunshot. The woman's purse was next to her, indicating theft was not a motive, police said.

Two other slayings that took place in the city within the last couple of months remain unsolved.

Last month, a woman was burned to death on Dickens Avenue and 74th Street. In February, body parts of a young man were found in trash bins outside two hotels in South Beach.

Police said they do not consider any of the killings linked.

"There is no reason to believe there is crazed maniac on the street," said Sgt. Priscilla Grandage, spokeswoman.

"We are always concerned about anything that will tarnish the image," she said.